Sharbatanu Chatterjee PhD., Laboratoire Jean Perrin at the Sorbonne Université, Paris
Our alumnus, Mr. Sharbatanu Chatterjee (BT/CSE/2016), shares his experience of pursuing higher studies in a foreign university, talks about his current research in neuroscience, and important life lessons while studying abroad.
What are you currently pursuing?
I am currently pursuing a PhD in the domain of neuroscience, though my degree will officially be in physics. I work at a laboratory called the Laboratoire Jean Perrin at the Sorbonne Université in Paris, France, supervised by Prof. Volker Bormuth. The laboratory hosts people with backgrounds in physics, engineering, and biology. Here, I am attempting to answer questions on how an animal can compute an internal model of its environment, and update it accordingly in order to make decisions based on the sensory input it receives from its surroundings.
In order to answer scientific questions like the one I posed above, I use a tiny fish actually native to the Indian Subcontinent, called the zebrafish (Danio rerio). During its larval stage, it is transparent and thus allows an experimenter to use various imaging techniques to record the electrochemical activity from cells of its entire brain, while the animal is behaving, without any surgery. The laboratory I work in specialises in a sensory system called the vestibular system, which some neuroscientists like to call a ‘sixth sense’, in addition to the other five better known senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. The vestibular system deals with the sensation of balance and orientation in order to control motion, and preserve their structure and function across many species = like zebrafish and humans. I study how the zebrafish can perform motor control in an environment where both the system of sight and the vestibular system are engaged simultaneously.
What inspired you to pursue research?
I think I always knew that I wanted to pursue answers to questions about material reality, and I realised in college that a great way to pursue such questions was through research in a scientific discipline. I was lucky to have been involved in courses and research internships at excellent laboratories in IIT Kanpur, ISI Kolkata, and EPFL Switzerland during my undergraduate years which not only inspired me to ponder upon questions that I am learning to better express now, but also showed me, from the inside, how research functions.
EPFL-EEG Course Project
How did you narrow down on your interest in your major, and what made you choose your current University?
I majored in computer science at IIT Kanpur, and I eventually got a chance to study learning and decision making in ‘simple’ systems can act as universal functional approximators, via courses by Prof. Amit Mukherjee and Prof. Harish Karnick at IIT Kanpur and via a research internship with Prof. Wulfram Gerstner at EPFL. I also was inspired by Prof. Nitin Gupta to think in the direction of how networks of neurons in the brain can also be thought of to be performing computations as mentioned above. Hence, I took a leap of faith and applied for a major (biology) that was different from my undergrad major. I applied to a number of universities which accepted students from a quantitative background into their biology departments, and chose to go to EPFL for my master’s degree as I was familiar with from my internship and it had a number of laboratories whose work I was very interested in.
IITK Convocation 2016
After completing my master’s under Prof. Carl Peterson at EPFL,Switzerland, I wanted to get further experience in an experimental laboratory and got an offer to work on animal behaviour at UCL (University College London), where I spent almost two years at the lab of Prof. Athena Akrami, before getting a PhD offer in a very interdisciplinary Europe-wide PhD program funded by the European Union, via the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) fellowship program.
Master’s Degree from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
What challenges did you face while pursuing higher studies in a foreign university?
I believe the biggest challenge for me was adjusting to being in charge of all the functioning of a responsible societal life on a tight budget, as Lausanne, Switzerland, is an extremely expensive city to be in. The essential labour that is required for the proper functioning of life was not outsourced to a highly subsidised system like the mess system of the IIT Kanpur halls, the easily available canteens, and all the workers who aid in cleaning, laundry, healthcare, etc, for a pittance, so that students on the IITK campus can do their studies without participating in this aspect of their lives almost at all. It was a good learning experience which I think would do many students from IIT Kanpur a lot of good. One can learn, for example, how to handle one’s own healthcare, which, though universal and state-regulated in Switzerland, is based on compulsorily bought private health insurance. The academics at EPFL were structured in a similar way as IIT Kanpur with lectures, tutorials, programming exercises, humanities courses, though a bit more strict in its manner of grading, and I didn’t have too many problems there!
What were the non-academic activities you were involved in during your MS program?
Switzerland is an excellent place for nature lovers, and I enjoyed following the numerous hiking routes around the country with fellow nature lovers. There are well-demarcated routes, ranked by difficulty, around the different regions of the country and I managed to complete almost all routes in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, where I was based. Besides, I was involved in language-learning and science popularisation. I worked part-time as a junior curator at a science museum based at EPFL. I was also involved in student governance as a student representative of my year and department, similar to a DUGC representative at IITK (which I also happened to be).
Lausanne Vineyards, Switzerland
What do you think is the significant difference between academic research in Indian universities compared to universities abroad?
A significant difference is laboratories having senior researchers and postdoctoral fellows, which I found missing in a lot of research laboratories in India, where the norm was having the Principal Investigator and a number of PhD students, who usually work for more years on average than I see in Europe. From second-hand experiences, the situation is similar in labs in the USA and Canada as well in terms of postdoctoral fellows, though there, students work for longer years as well. I cannot comment definitely on what model is better, because sometimes it is indeed good to have direct contact with the PI, but sometimes a more ‘contemporary’ colleague who has had more experience of academic research is also helpful.
What are your views on improving research culture in India, and what do you think Indian universities should do to promote quality research?
With Prof. Sumit Ganguly, CSE, IIT Kanpur
I think that a good step will be to have research as an important part of getting a master’s degree and potentially a bachelor’s degree as well. Being part of the everyday working of a healthy research laboratory can really inculcate the passion to get into research. IITK already has a SURGE program, and other such programs exist in India and around the world. I also believe that research and teaching being combined and promoted across the country in Indian universities beyond the few centrally funded research focused universities like the IITs, IISc, TIFR, etc. I do understand that the IISERs were created to this end, but still believe that it would benefit researchers a lot too if the critical masses of researchers are created in teaching-focused state universities which are responsible for catering to a majority of the students in the country. Also, it goes without saying that more money, personnel, and facilities, along with the freedom to work with them, is needed. For example, in recent times through social media, the problem of long delays in disbursement of fellowships to junior researchers has been highlighted. In my opinion, such delays are a sure shot way of discouraging people from coming into and staying in research.
At IIT Kanpur
What has been your biggest takeaway from studying in a foreign university?
My biggest takeaway while studying for my master’s has been the amount of importance to independence that it has given in my life and career. EPFL, for example, did not have a centralised placement program, but organised a kind of job fair where people were encouraged to go independently, with people there to help one all the way, of course.
How has your experience been studying in a multicultural environment?
Cultural differences pose a hurdle in the beginning for sure, as it did during my move to Kanpur from Kolkata, but as in Kanpur, I could soon adjust quite well in Lausanne and it was very enriching for me. The fact that I was in a course-intensive master’s program in a very diverse group of students from around the world helped in my adjustment. I could meet people in the context of both my courses, as well as my non-academic social life. A lot of the people I met were exchange students who came to study for a semester or more in Switzerland, via something called the Erasmus programme, which funds students who want to spend some time in another European university. Such an exchange program has, according to me, done more to solidify peace and solidarity than any other economic or political measure within a region as diverse and marred with a history of violence and enmity as Europe. Such an exchange program is motivated not only by academics, but also the desire to get to know the language (which is often the medium of teaching), food, culture, etc, of the city the university is located in.
I now know people from almost every country and region of Europe during my years in Switzerland and England. Besides, it was almost impossible in Switzerland to get into an Indian or IITK clique that is so commonly seen in the USA, UK, or big cities in Europe, which I believe is a good thing. This influenced my ability to mix with as well as hold my own in any social setting and I don’t feel the urge to always find my own comfort zone. Also, Switzerland, like India, is itself a multilingual, multicultural country, with various states (cantons) of the confederation speaking different languages, with historical differences in religion and culture, and with a much weaker central authority. That definitely made me feel closer to the country, as sort of a microcosm of Europe at the crossroads of Western Europe, faced with more questions of insularity and diversity today. Hence I could appreciate the environment even more.
What have been your biggest life learnings after joining the University?
I have learnt, especially from Switzerland, but also England and France, that scientists in universities and research institutions tend to take their work lives and their science too seriously. I would have probably been engulfed by either my academic lifestyle or an industrial job, had I taken that path, if I had not learnt here to see it as a part of life and not life itself. I haven’t yet managed to implement this learning completely in my life yet but I am in the process of doing it.
